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Welcome to the Christmas 2016 edition of the Bedminster Business Improvement District Newsletter (incorporating Bedminster Town Team).

Christmas Events

Highlights for Christmas include

East Street Christmas Market on Sat 26th November. This year Santa and his reindeer will be making an appearance and GUARANTEED snow for the day.

Christmas Lights Installations at various locations around the shopping district. This will include a giant snowman, a moving Santa's Grotto, an Elf Village and a picture postcard scene on Bedminster Parade.

Bedminster Lantern Parade on Sat 10th December. Businesses on route are invited to participate by either decorating your premises (lantern kits are still available) or staying open later into the evening. This the largest event anywhere in South Bristol at this time of year and a great opportunity to engage with the thousands in attendance. For more details contact Tom on 07769347292 or email here.

We are circulating 15,000 copies of our Christmas flyer around Bristol in the lead up to Christmas and promoting via social media. See www.bedminster.org.uk for details and the amazing flyer here.

New Store OpeningsWe are delighted to see some wonderful new businesses opening in the past few months. North Street welcomes both Friendly Records and Toyville into its ranks while around the corner, Havanas Burgers and Shakes has added some life to Cannon Street. New arrivals on East Street include Bubble Play Cafe and the re-opening of Ocean Pearl (formerly Smiley’s Plaice).

Skills WeekThis was an extraordinary event in November with over 60 (sixty!) events organised for people to try out new things, all in and around our retail streets. If you missed it – more here.

Business RatesAs you will no doubt be aware there is currently a business rates revaluation going on. Overall our understanding of Bedminster is that it is not increasing or decreasing greatly (there will of course be some exceptions to this).

For the past four years the BID has been working with Bristol based Colliers International, a business rates specialist. Colliers have saved Bedminster BID members over £30,000 in rates, with many others receiving free advice. The BID has agreed ongoing discounted professional advice for BID members including a transparent no-win, no-fee basis and no upfront costs – ie fees are only payable when a saving is created. Please contact Dan Johnstone on 0117 9172059or Daniel.johnstone@colliers.com

Annual Report Our annual report for 2015/16 is in circulation. Hopefully a copy will have reached you by now, but if not, please clickhere

BID Board MeetingsBoard meetings take place at 6.00pm on the first Tuesday of every month in The Steam Crane on North Street. If you are interested in finding out more please come along to a meeting as an observer. If you would like a bigger say in decisions affecting the area and our businesses, we are always looking for new board members to join the team. 6th December is the date for the next meeting, where we will also be having a Christmas drink. All businesses are invited. Alternatively contact one of us for a chat – see contact list below.​

About the Business Improvement District (and Town Team)The BID is the funding arm for Town Team activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' in November each year, to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to:

Create vibrant streets that excite and delight

Market and promote Bedminster

Reduce crime and improve the shopping environment

Advocate and lobby for Bedminster business interests

Drive down costs

Please get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar here and drop us a line.

High Street HeroesFinally our very own Simon Dicken (manager of Wilko and Chair of the BID) has been nominated for a national award for his wonderful efforts over the past four years in Bedminster. Best of luck with the finals Simon. More here.

Welcome to the summer 2016 edition of the Bedminster Business Improvement District Newsletter (incorporating Bedminster Town Team). We have just come to our Year End and as such have published our annual report which is currently being circulated around the area. It includes

a summary of all our events and activities from the previous year

information on RPS

interesting new developments for local businesses

how to have your say

Hopefully a copy will have reached you by now, but if not, please click here​Priorities for the 2015/16 (Year 3 of the BID)Each year in August and ​September, ​we​ encourage all businesses in the district to form our plans and priorities for the forthcoming year. The Board will then vote on these ideas in September. Please see the annual report for details of meetings times and venues.

About the Business Improvement District (and Town Team)The BID is the funding arm for Town Team activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' in November each year, to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to:

Create vibrant streets that excite and delight

Market and promote Bedminster

Reduce crime and improve the shopping environment

Advocate and lobby for Bedminster business interests

Drive down costs

Please get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar here and drop us a line.

Welcome to the May edition of the Town Team and BID newsletter. Please read on to find out about what we've been up to over the last few months, and to learn about our plans for the forthcoming year. Fuller details of the year's activities will be published in June in our Annual Report, which will be circulated in both printed and digital formats.

Annual General Meeting (AGM) - Tuesday 7th June 2015 at The Steam CraneWe are inviting all local businesses to our third AGM, to be held at The Steam Crane (4-6 North Street) on 7th June at 6pm.Key items on the agenda are: to elect new directors, review Year 3 of the BID and commence discussions for Year 4. We are now seeking nominations for new directors - please email your suggestions to George Grace (george@bedminstertownteam.com) by Sunday 29th May 2016.We are an informal, friendly group, whose basic duties are to direct spending for the BID and Town Team. We invariably hold our meetings at 6pm on the first Tuesday of each month, and are looking for directors who can commit to a minimum of seven meetings per year.Please do get in touch if you'd like to get involved.

EventsWe have had a fantastic few months in Bedminster, with the following events either organised or supported by the Town Team:

In February, Window Wanderland was introduced to the area, to light up our retail and residential streets with wonderful window displays during the dark winter nights. March saw the return of 'On The Run' - with 30 comics, musicians, poets and magicians performing across 14 venues in Bedminster, in a battle to win a £250 cash prize.

In early May, we launched 'Breakfast in Bedminster', as part of Bristol's Food Connections. This was a fantastic event, with numerous cafes and restaurants taking part, as well as Michelin Chef Josh Eggleton serving breakfast in bed at Kustom Floors and Furniture!

Make Sunday Special (7th August tbc) - this will be held in the same area as last year, along the eastern half of North Street

Built EnvironmentWe are delighted to have opened not one, but two 'pocket parks' in the area over the last couple of months. These were delivered with over £25k of grants won from the city council and central government.We believe it's the experiences such as these that help people to enjoy a trip to Bedminster at little more, encourage them to stay longer, and of course sets us apart from the more innocuous shopping experiences in a mall or online.

Ebenezer Gate, North Street

Caraboo Square, East Street

We are also currently working on:

Bedminster Parade - the Metrobus is coming and we have managed to agree with the council a diversion of some funding to improve the public realm in this area. Work should start in the summer.

Heritage Lottery Funding - we are busy working with the council and UWE on a major application for over £1m of funding for improvements to shops in the conservation area (predominantly BedminsterParade and East Street).

RPS - those dreaded letters! It's still with us, and we are due the promised review by the council. North Street Traders met last week and agreed the following priorities for their area:

North Street itself should be dedicated to P&D only and not mixed with RPS

Perpendicular/contiguous roads to North Street should be 50% mixed P&D and RPS (Upton Road is of no use to the traders and could return to 100% residents). There should be no negative impact on residents as the streets are half empty of cars during the day.

Free period - P&D is extended to an hour free (instead of half an hour) and the first half hour should be 'properly free' (ie the first hour and a half is £1)

Saturday parking - should be limited to 2 hours (3 hours for the rest of the week is ok)

Loading bay review - including a bay in front of Ashton Fruit and on eastern North Street (probably near Greville Street)

Consultation - one side of North Street was not consulted at all (as it forms the boundary), despite being seriously affected by the RPS. This side of North Street still extraordinarily cannot get permits.

About the BID and Town Team

The BID is the funding arm for Town Team activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' in November each year, to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to:

Create vibrant streets that excite and delight

Market and promote Bedminster

Reduce crime and improve the shopping environment

Advocate and lobby for Bedminster business interests

Drive down costs.

Please get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar here and drop us a line.

Welcome to the January edition of the Town Team and BID Newsletter. Please read on to find out about our plans for the forthcoming year. If you'd like to see details of last year's activities, please click here to view our 2014/15 annual report.

Events CalendarOur events calendar for 2016 is shaping up very nicely! These initiatives are all either supported or organised directly by the Town Team.

February - Window Wanderland: This is a wonderful new initiative for the area - a magical walking trail to light up our streets. Many local residents have already signed up to create displays in their windows and gardens, and we are now looking for businesses to take part too. This will be a fun, free event, open to everyone - and should be a great way to generate footfall and raise money for charity too! There is more information here and you can sign up here. The map of all participating properties will be created in the next couple of weeks, so act now if you'd like to be included.

March - Fun On The Run: The latest in our series of 'On The Run' events. Following on from the success of previous events, we are arranging for a variety of acts to perform across 15Bedminster venues (musicians, comedians, magicians, poets, circus performers etc) on Saturday 19th March. If you'd like to get involved, please email sadiefleming@live.com.

June - Comedians On The Run: tbc.

July - Upfest: Europe's biggest street art festival will be returning to Bedminster between 23rd - 25th July. The Town Team is a key sponsor and works closely with the festival organisers to ensure the enormous crowds (circa 25,000) permeate throughout the area. If you have a substantial area of wall that you would like brought to life with a piece of art, please do get in touch.

August - Breakfast In Bedminster: This is a new idea that we intend to trial on the weekend of the Balloon Fiesta (11th - 14th August). We have probably the best range of restaurants and cafes in the city, and we need to highlight this! More details to follow. We will also host our annual summer fairs this month.

September - Skills Week: This bumper week of events and activities will return in September this year (usually in May).

October - Musicians On The Run: tbc.

December: Christmas lighting and events.

Built EnvironmentSeveral significant projects are about to be undertaken:

Mill Square (ie the corner of East Street and Mill Lane) - this is being turned into a small square with planters and art, and will be known as Caraboo Square (after Princess Caraboo - click herefor the story).

Ebenezer Gate (on North Street) - the Town Team have secured funding to turn this lovely old piece of Bedminster into an actively used 'pocket park'. We hope to commence work in March.

Bedminster Parade - working closely with the council has resulted in the redirection of c£250k of Metrobus budget in favour of public realm improvements, which will include: replacing the pavement with natural stone, tree planting, benches, and a freshly surfaced carriageway.

RPZ - this has now been in place for over 6 months, and the Town Team are conducting a survey of businesses to ascertain its impact. We will publish the results here, and where damaging for businesses, use them as evidence in the council review.

Priorities for the 2015/16 (Year 3 of the BID)Each year in September, the Town Team meets to agree priorities for the forthcoming year. Please click here for a summary of all of this year’s priorities.

About the BID and Town Team

The BID is the funding arm for Town Team activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' in November each year, to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to:

Create vibrant streets that excite and delight

Market and promote Bedminster

Reduce crime and improve the shopping environment

Advocate and lobby for Bedminster business interests

Drive down costs.

Please get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar hereand drop us a line.

Welcome to the October edition of the TownTeam and BID Newsletter. Please see below for our current activities and plans. For details of the past year's activities, please click here to view our annual report for 2014/15.

Christmas is coming....

North Street Winter Fair - Saturday 28th November: bringing its traditional range of market stalls, music and festive cheer to North Street!

Winter Lantern Parade - Saturday 12th December: over 3000 people are expected on the streets of Bedminster between 3pm-6pm, so the organisers are hoping to extend this into a huge day of activities, which would be fantastic for the area. The whole of North Street and Cannon Street will be closed, offering the opportunity for traders (particularly food and drink vendors) to make the most of this and sell to the crowds on the streets. If you are involved in sponsoring and making lanterns this year, there will also be the chance to display them with battery lights.

East Street Christmas Fair - Saturday 12th December: there will be music, reindeer, Santa and much more along East Street between 10am-4pm.

Be part of our Festive Elf Trail...This December, Santa is sending his army of elves to Bedminster for our own unique Christmas trail. An array of hand painted wooden elves will be installed on, in and around the many shops, cafes and businesses in Bedminster to form a fun and engaging display for the community and boost footfall in the area.

We are working with children from local schools to design the elves, which will then be built and installed by 25th November. The installation is being funded by theBedminsterTownTeam, but there is also scope for additional elves to be built for individual businesses who would like to be a part of the Bedminster Elf Trail.

For your business to be included on the promotional Bedminster Elf map, you can purchase your very own Bedminster Elf for £60 + VAT before the 1st November 2015. For more information, please contact Russ Henry on 07759482987 or email russhenry@hotsouphouse.com

Other NewsRPZ Meeting for North Street - Jon Toy from Bristol City Council will attend a special meeting regarding Residents' Parking at 6pm on Thursday 15th October in the Hen & Chicken. This scheme will commence in Southville on 23rd November 2015.

About the BID and TownTeamThe BID is the funding arm for TownTeam activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' in November each year, to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses.

Please get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar here and drop us a line.

Welcome to the September edition of the TownTeam and BID Newsletter. Please see below for our current activities and plans. For details of the past year's activities, please click here to view our annual report for 2014/15.

Priorities for the forthcoming year 2015/16 (Year 3 of the BID)Each year we arrange brainstorming sessions in Bedminster's three key shopping streets. These are held with local businesses and in the specialist sub-groups that meet monthly (ie marketing and built environment). With too many ideas to be able to fund, the board meets each September to prioritise the best initiatives. We aim to bring forward nearly all of the projects listed below over the next twelve months.

Built Environment:

Hanging baskets

Gateway fund (art/greening)

Shop front improvements fund

Metal sculptures on North Street

Artwork in upper East Street windows (e.g. the East Street photo project)

Creative Meanwhile - to encourage creative users/landlords to the area

Gate on North Street - turn into pocket park

Chess table and chairs (probably concrete)

Marketing, Promotion, Arts and Culture:

Christmas Lights 2015

Winter Lantern Parade

Website integration

Remembrance Week - a car poppy on every bollard on East Street

Upfest 2016

Street art tours

Plaster annual retainer

On The Run - 3 or 4 events, including cabaret/variety and perhaps a Christmas special

Skills Week

Pub Crawl - using Desperate Men or actors to tell gruesome/spooky history/stories in a trail of the pubs over Halloween

Buskers - make Bedminster a busker-friendly area, and possibly sponsor on Friday or Saturday lunchtimes on East Street

BEDLAM - celebrating the weird/odd (think Lee Evans dancing in biscuit tins!) in an X-Factor audition show timed for April 1st

Pop up shops in containers for Christmas 2016 - possibly on North Street Green to generate publicity/visitors

TownTeam to run Christmas Fair 2015 (in consultation with North Street businesses)

Provide power on North Street Green so it can be used for events in the future and also for the Christmas lights

West Street:

CCTV for West Street (contribution)

Maintenance of the West Street planters

Two further planters and maintenance

Current Marketing Activities

BS3T Guide: We have printed 20,000 copies of the BS3T map guide, and with the help of Destination Bristol, are ensuring it is available in all key tourist points from the city to the airport (please click here to view if you haven't already seen it).

Musicians On The Run / East Street Summer Fayre - Saturday 19th September: We have a bumper day of events in Bedminster next Saturday with Best of Bedminster returning to Dean Lane Skate Park, East Street Summer Fayre coming to East Street throughout the day, and 15 venues hosting 20 musicians from 3pm - 6pm for Musicians On The Run. Please do view and share the Facebook events here: www.facebook.com/events/1662196107400244/www.facebook.com/events/499881650177104/

Winter Lantern Parade - Saturday 12th December: The organising committee are looking to extend the lantern parade this year to involve all the businesses and traders in the area, whether that be by decorating your windows with lanterns, getting together in a group to make a lantern and join the parade, donating some cash towards the fund that makes it happen each year, volunteering to steward... everything is welcome! We are expecting over 3000 people on the streets of Bedminster from 3pm, so if we can extend this to make a huge day of activities, it would be fantastic for the area.

Access Survey: Recently, the BedminsterTownTeam and the Greater BedminsterPartnership commissioned a study of access issues along the stretch from BedminsterBridge to Greville Smyth Park. The study picked up many positive features, but also highlighted some areas for improvement - including various obstructions on the pavement, a lack of seating in some areas and broken pavements. Some of these issues are the responsibility of Bristol City Council and we have already started to talk to them about improvements. Many of the issues, however, are down to individual businesses - for example, hazardous obstacles outside one shop will have negative implications for neighbouring businesses. The TownTeam wants to make Bedminster the most attractive and accessible business district in Bristol. We can only do it with your help. If you would like to make any comments about this or find out more about the report, please contact george@towncentred.com

Invitation to acta Theatre Celebrations: The nice people at local theatre group 'acta' are celebrating 30 years in Bedminster, and would love you to join them - please see their invitation below:

"Dear businesses of Bedminster, A big hello from the acta community theatre team. We are an educational arts charity and are situated between Gaywood House surgery and South St Park. Our home, the acta centre has recently undergone a big refurbishment and extension, which has given us more space for events and also a theatre bar (supplied with goodies from Margot May!) This year we are celebrating the organisation's 30th year! As such, we would love to invite the local businesses around us to see a very special show which has been created to celebrate our birthday and our new building. The show is called 'TheNow' and was created by performers from Bedminster and across Bristol. It is a comic show which takes a wry and light-hearted look at the world of 2015 and the last 30 years. If you're nostalgic for big hair and Wham T-shirts, frustrated at dealing with modern technology, or just fancy a fun night out (and a nose at the new building) please email info@acta-bristol.com or call Kathryn on 0117 9532448 to reserve your tickets.Dates - September 23, 24, 29, 30 & October 1. All performances start at 7.30pm.Watch the trailer for 'TheNow' here.Best wishes,Kathryn Harris, Programme Assistant at acta (www.acta-bristol.com)"

Do You Need Part Time Staff? We have been asked by Bristol University graduates to mention the launch of a business that aims to connect Bristol students with local jobs whilst they are at university. The website is www.wurkrs.com, it is completely free for both students and employers, and it could be a very useful tool for businesses in theBedminster area. The broad idea is that as a university student, you often have both a lot of spare time and not much money! There is currently no easy way of finding temporary, one-off or part-time work when you want it. We aim to fulfil this need with Wurkrs. The idea is that businesses in the Bedminster area can very simply post whenever they have a job vacancy or need an extra pair of hands. They then have access to a large pool of reliable, hardworking and cheap local university students to fill those vacancies.

About the BID and TownTeamThe BID is the funding arm for TownTeam activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' in November each year, to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to:

Create vibrant streets that excite and delight

Market and promote Bedminster

Reduce crime and improve the shopping environment

Advocate and lobby for Bedminster business interests

Drive down costs.

Please get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar here and drop us a line.

Annual ReportThe Bedminster Town Team and BID has just published its Year 2 Annual Report - please clickhere to access 12 colourful pages of the past 12 months and plans for the future.

BS3T GuideOne project you will read about is our new guide to Bedminster - please find the latest draft here. If you are interested in buying one of the advertisement spaces, please emailberyl@weareplaster.com for further details.

About the BID and Town TeamThe BID is the funding arm for Town Team activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to:

Get InvolvedPlease get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar here and drop us a line.

AGM (Annual General Meeting - 2nd June 2015 at The Steam Crane, 4-6 North StKey items are to elect new directors, review Year 2 of the BID and commence discussions for Year 3. Nominations are therefore sought for new directors - please email your nominations for directors for to George Grace (george@towncentred.com) no later than 26th May 2015. We are an informal friendly group and basic duties are to direct spending for the BID and Town Team by attending a minimum of seven meetings. Meetings are invariably held at 6pm on the first Tuesday of each month) throughout the year.We will be sending out a detailed annual report in relation to Year 2 after the AGM, meanwhile please find a summary of current activities below – please do get in touch with us if you wish to become involved in anything.

Events and Promotion - coming up

Make Sunday Special: 14th June, Lower North Street - we have funding from Bristol City Council and are closing Lower North Street from 10am – 4pm on 14th June and making Bedminster a hub of street games throughout the area. Picnic tables will stretch 500m with board games, as well as pinball, bed racing and vintage entertainment. We are inviting businesses to stay open on Sunday and to get involved with stalls in the street / serving up drinks and food in selected areas. Please contact Beryl if you wish to be involved - beryl@weareplaster.com.

North Street Summer Fair, Saturday 27th June, North Street Traders will once again be hosting the ever popular North Street Summer Fair. Businesses are invited to interact, promote and engage with the organisers to make this the best yet. Contact Claire -clairebaker@blueyonder.co.uk.

Best of Bedminster, September, East Street - 'BOB' is being resurrected with the support of the BID and will celebrate jam making, crafts, vegetable growing and other country fayre elements. This will also be accompanied by a seasonal market. More details to follow.

Built Environment (Planning and Transport)

Residents Parking Zones are coming soon across Bedminster. The Town Team has had numerous meetings with the council to represent business interests. For full details of plans and process please visit www.bristol.gov.uk. Via our meetings with council officers we are pleased to report one success is the retention of parking spaces on lower East St opposite the Collonade. Other representations and concerns we have made to ensure a better fairer system are yet to be decided upon.

East Street Redevelopments – there is a lot of change coming to the bottom of East St that for the most part is positive. St Catherine’s Place is being redeveloped and Regent and Consort House (The Colonnade) is likely to be converted into residential. These two developments alone will bring 300 new residential units and thus circa 600-800 new residents with their associated purchasing power to this immediate locale.

Shop Fascia Improvements:

Gateway art – the Town Team has money to spend applying art or greenery to high profile walls in the area if you have a space then get in touch.

Shop Front Improvement Program – the BID have announced £500 grants available for shops to improve their appearance provided they match fund. If you have a shop and you’re keen to improve the facade then get in touch.

Saving Money:

Waste Services: AN EVEN BETTER DEAL (Christine Webb, 0845 600 2836,bedminster@sita.co.uk). Introduce your neighbours. Bring 2 new customers on-board to the Bedminster BID Trade waste service and you will receive a free roll of recycling sacks (Pk 25) or a month free of recycling bins. This incentive is available until end of May. If we can get up to 100 customers in Bedminster, businesses enjoy a further approximate 5% discount on existing prices – so please sign up your neighbours!

Utilities and other office essential spend and supplies (Ben Leighton for a brief face to face meeting at your site. Tel : 01225 863454ben.leighton@bcrassociates.co.uk). BCR Associates have now been appointed our business savings provider for the BID. Locally based, BCR will do a full cost review of your business costs free of charge, with no obligation and you retain 100% of any savings found. Over the last 2 years BCR have saved Bath business (in the Bath BID) conservatively £100,000 and eased businesses administration. BCR specialise in reducing and managing Energy for businesses, Business Products i.e. everything for the office, stationary, print, work wear, janitorial products etc. (Guaranteed 10% savings).Telecoms and Rent reviews

Business Rates: Lodge a review before April 15th for large potential savings (Daniel Johnstone, 0117 917 2059, daniel.johnstone@colliers.com). The BID has secured a highly competitive agreement with Colliers International which is based on a no-win, no-fee basis. The service includes a full measured survey of your property and on-going advice with regards to business rates and any additional relief you may be entitled to. Collier’s has so far saved businesses within the BID area over £20,000 and has also given free advice to other occupiers. Successful business rate appeals lodged after 1st April 2015 will only be able to secure lower business rates for the period 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2017. However, if an appeal is lodged prior to 1st April 2015, the backdated refund will go back to the 1st April 2010, meaning over 5 years of potential savings could be lost if a review is not undertaken before the April deadline

Other Ways to Save:

Travel Discounts with FirstBus: Given the pressures on parking its worth checking out the savings to be made for staff getting to work on the bus if feasible. Around 10% can be saved on fares - call 0844 854 2569 or visit www.firstgroup.com/ctsbristol

About the BID and Town Team The BID is the funding arm for Town Team activities, generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central ‘kitty’ to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to: • Create vibrant streets that excite and delight • Market and promote Bedminster • Reduce crime and improve the shopping environment • Advocate and lobby for Bedminster business interests • Drive down costs.

Get InvolvedPlease drop us a line if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement) please see our calendar here and drop us a line. Thanks.

Christmas is Coming!

The Town Team & BID
has organised or funded a range of projects to help boost footfall this Christmas

· Christmas Light Switch On -15TH NOVEMBER

· East Street Christmas Market - 29TH NOVEMBER, 10AM - 3PM

· Musicians On The Run - 29TH NOVEMBER, 3PM - 7PM

· North Street Christmas Celebration - 5TH DECEMBER

· Winter Lantern Parade - 6TH DECEMBER, 4.30PM

For the Lantern Parade we are encouraging all businesses on North Street and
Upper East Street to take advantage of the huge number of people following the
trail by hosting a mini activity on their pavement whether it be seasonal
decoration, extra merchandising, or product sampling etc – its an opportunity
to engage customers.

We are particularly excited about our
first ’20
Bedminster’ Event. If this first
one goes well we will aim to do one a quarter covering comedians, magicians
etc…

Waste Services

If you haven’t signed up
already we hope you will consider the highly preferential and beneficial
arrangement we have organised with SITA.

Benefits

·Six days a week
collection service, including Saturdays

·Reduced recycling
and waste management costs

·Timed collections
for your recycling and waste

·Dedicated
customer helpdesk

·Free
‘seagull-proof’ sacks

·Smarter street
environment for shoppers

·Available to all
businesses in Bedminster

·Additional
discounts for all when we collectively have 100 businesses

Contact SITA for a free,
no obligation quote and or meeting with our dedicated Bedminster support, Christine
Webb on 0845 600 2836 or email bedminster@sita.co.uk.

Other News

St Mary Redcliffe Christmas Tree Fest December 9-13 Are organizing an exciting and unusual event in the form of a Treefest at St Mary Redcliffe Church, which will raise money for charity (including the High Sheriff of Bristol's charity) and give the businesses and organizations of Bristol an opportunity to showcase themselves and their contribution to the city of Bristol. More at www.treefest.org.uk.

YourSTreet YourStreet continue to grow their gift card scheme for independent retailers developed. Independent traders now have an opportunity to be a part of a UK £5billion industry! The card offers an economic lift to high streets and a morale boost to independent retailers and services, as well as offering a vast choice and variety to the cardholder. Our aim is to bring back footfall to the high street to sustain the long term future of the high street and all its independent retailers and services. Call 07877 994 290 or take a look on www.yourstreetgiftcards.com.

Town Team & BID Board Minutes

The last meeting of the
Board was organising and confirming most of the above. For detailed minutes
please see bedminstertownteam.org.

Aims
for the Forthcoming Year

Outside of Christmas
events and projects set out above the remaining top 20 priorities for us this
year are:

1.Shaun the Sheep – sponsor a sheep

2.Hanging baskets - £40per basket – support up to max
100 fairly distributed across the BID

3.Events and Markets Manager

4.Plaster Marketing, PR and Website Support etc

5.Upfest Annual Event 2015 – one of the largest events
in S Bristol with c25,000 now attending. Cost to host is £60k in total. Agreed
that one large artwork will be completed on East St to test whether shoppers
are interested in this as a way of improving East Streets attractiveness

6.Skills Week – repeat and grow last year’s event – in
particular around evening economy ideas (eg small music and dance events in
which audience encouraged to take part more; and/or break outs how to learn a
musical instrument ?

8.Show of Strength – Let’s Do it in the Street – ie a repeat of last year’s successful run
(more days of shows, two different 45 minute walks each day)

9.Shop Loyalty Card – simple loyalty card scheme copying
ideas of a proven scheme (Penarth) in which c1500 cards are printed and sold at
£1 each to est 50 businesses for resale to customers; also 5x £10 vouchers to
be won each month for ‘fist to use their card’

10.Metal sculptures to be made for outside of the shops
that would represent what they sold so for example- the butcher might have a
cow head, AV might have a gramophone

Note: The BID (Business Improvement District) and Town Team
are the same organisation. The BID is the funding arm for Town Team activities,
generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent
to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central ‘kitty’ to be spent on
projects that benefit Bedminster businesses.